One might ask
One might ask: If there is no Torah without derech eretz and there is no derech eretz without Torah, how is it possible to achieve either one of them? If you can not have one without the other, there is no way to get started! The answer is that "There is no Torah without derech eretz" means that Torah must be preceded by proper social conduct. Derech eretz comes chronologically before Torah in our personal lives, just as much of history preceded Torah.
— from True North (Ethics, Integrity, Truth, Values) · Maharal of Prague Pirkel Avos: A Commentary based on selections from Maharal's Derech Chai
In the book
It is why whoever saves a single life is regarded as having saved an entire world. It is why the sages insisted that derech eretz — basic decent conduct toward others — comes chronologically before all the higher learning; there is no Torah without it, because proper behavior is the very ground everything else is built upon. The same wisdom asks you to keep a generous ledger of others: downplay the bad someone has done to you and work to forget it, while remembering the good. — True North (Ethics, Integrity, Truth, Values)
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